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Donald Trump can smell defeet.. Ron DeSantis’, to be precise.
The question of whether the Florida governor stands less than 5 feet 10 inches tall has been the subject of online speculation for months, based largely on the observable fact that his chosen footwear along the campaign trail—black cowboy boots—look very, very odd. Almost like he could be wearing height-boosting insoles to make himself appear taller (and thereby more presidential).
The deeply reported-upon conspiracy theory reached a fever pitch this week, when podcast host Patrick Bet-David raised the issue directly to DeSantis’ face. The governor declared, too quickly, perhaps, that he was 5-foot-11 and that his boots were “just standard, off-the-rack Lucchese.” Then Politico went and asked three experts about it. The shoemakers agreed that yes, DeSantis was fudging his stature to give himself about 1.5 inches of extra height.